Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

JohnHowardReid T-Men is a wonderful film. Although Mann utilises many of the semi-documentary school's technical contrivances (the opening legend, authentic backgrounds, off-screen narration, tight editing) and much of its philosophic outlook (rugged hero, tight-lipped, unexpressive; refined villain, his voice carefully shaded to suggest every nuance of depraved elegance), he has yet managed to inject the film with a distinctly personal style. Our first indication that the picture is being directed by an unusually imaginative artist with both an expressive visual flair and the editing know-how to sustain it, comes in the restaurant scene where "The Schemer" makes contact with a photographer's girl. Instead of the usual flat establishing long shot with the hero walking up to the entrance, cut to the interior and pan, Anthony Mann has treated the sequence almost surrealistically; - with an opening shot of the restaurant's neon sign, rapid cut to its swinging door as O'Keefe strides through, tracking shot following the investigator into the interior - a confused medley of sight, sound and voices, - rapid pan as O'Keefe jostles his way to a telephone booth, closing the glass door so that a reflection of the whole dizzying scene swings into focus. Obviously, neither Hathaway, Keighley, nor any other of the semi-documentarists would have handled the scene this way, although heretofore it appeared that Mann was directing the film along established lines - or so it seemed at the time. On a recent re-viewing of the film, however, I found that even in earlier scenes, Mann had been more daring than Hathaway in his choice of low angles, longer takes (the first interview with the unctuous gang-leader, - beautifully composed and photographed), and the remarkable no-dialogue sequence where a tip-off is passed to a crooked detective in the locker-room of a Turkish bath; - an intensified use of natural sound taking the place of both dialogue and music. (As is usual in this type of film, the composer - here, Paul Sawtell - is relegated to providing a few bars for the brass section to play under the credits). There follows a wonderful montage of low-angled long shots as Treasury agents try to trace "The Schemer" through his known addiction to Oriental herbs.

atlasmb Released in post-war 1947, "T-Men" is about two employees of the Treasury Department, back when it had a wider scope, including taxes, borders, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. Counterfeiting was under its purview, and the film is a story about two agents who infiltrate the mob to stop its distribution of counterfeit money and revenue stamps.The B&W cinematography has been called "noir", and rightfully so, despite the film's intrusive voice-overs and a documentarian presentation that includes a message from the Treasury Department itself. Thankfully, the acting is good and the camera work is stylish. After a slow start, the film becomes more interesting.Watch for the cameo by June Lockhart.Without the numerous voice-overs, "T-Men" would have been a much better film. Still, it performed well at the box office, and its success led to a CBS radio show.

Dalbert Pringle Filmed in a no-nonsense, semi-documentary style, 1947's T-Men vividly tells the tale of 2 undercover agents from the American Treasury Department in Washington, DC, who risk life and limb in order to infiltrate a ruthlessly clever organization of currency counterfeiters who have operations in both Detroit and Los Angeles.Moving from one flea-bag hotel to the next, agents O'Brien and Genaro diligently track down "The Schemer", a valued member of the Van Tucci mob, who eventually leads our heroes to Mr. Big.Filled with plenty of hard-hitting action and deadly double-crosses, T-Men is a gritty, hard-edged Crime/Drama that's sure to please any fan of Film Noir.Filmed in stark b&w, T-Men had a running time of 92 minutes.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) If anyone has doubts about the enormous talent of Anthony Mann, see this film. Made with a tiny budget and also to praise the Treasury Department this film grabs you from beginning to end. One of the greatest virtues of Mann is not to succumb to clichés or anything that might seem fake. The plot is about two men from the Treasury who go after a gang which is making false bills. In order to infiltrate the gang they must pass as men with dirty pasts. To keep their fake identity they pass through painful ordeals, like watching one of their own being killed, and not react, or meet his wife and act like he does not know her. There is plenty of suspense in the film keeping you always on the edge.